Mia closed her eyes and she vomited into the toilet. She felt horrible. Her hair stuck to her forehead and she felt like she was covered in a thin veil of sweat. She took a deep breath and looked up. She prayed that she was done with throwing up. She gagged slightly and threw up again. Her hands clung to the edge of the toilet bowl, as she knelt before it. She hadn't even eaten that day yet, how could be throwing anything up?
"Mia?" her mother asked, knocking on the bathroom door, "Is everything okay in there?" Mia took a deep breath, trying to calm her body down. She leaned back, focusing on her breathing.
"Mia?" her mother asked again, knocking again.
"I'm okay," Mia called out.
"Are you sick?" her mother asked, turning the knob. Mia was grateful she locked the door. She didn't need her mother coming in and asking questions. She had been sick a month ago with the flu. Her mother would be worried if she was sick again. She might insist on taking Mia to the hospital and then her secret would be out. She couldn't let her mother know.
"I'm fine, mom," Mia called and flushed the toilet. She got up and felt shaky on her feet. She wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep the rest of the day. Mia shuffled to stand in front of bathroom mirror. Her hair was sticking to her face, which looked really pale. She looked bad. She looked sick.
"Mia? Unlock this door. I want to see if you are okay," her mother demanded, sounding impatient, knocking again. Mia took her washcloth and washed her face. She scrubbed her cheeks, hoping to bring some colour.
"Mia!" her mother said, her voice rose. Mia unlocked the door and crossed her arms in front of her.
"What?" Mia asked. Her mother put her hand to Mia's forehead.
"You don't feel right," she said, "You were throwing up in there. Mia, you look terrible. You are staying home and I'm calling the doctor. We don't want that flu to come back and turn into pneumonia."
"I can't," Mia said, unbelieving what she was about to say, "I have to go to school."
"No," her mother said, "Nelson, honey! Can you get me the phone and my phone book?" Mia rolled her eyes. Of course. Call her stepfather to get involved. She pushed past her mother and into her room. She shut her bedroom door.
"Mia, don't think you can block me out," she called. Mia could hear her mother walk down the hall. She was probably going to get the telephone herself. Mia sat down on her bed. She should be grateful for another day in bed. It was what she wanted so badly. It's not like she really cared about school anyway. Mia grabbed her cell phone, a gift from her stepfather, and texted her best friend.
Save me. lets skip school. She set the phone down and sighed. She needed to get dressed. She had to get her bag together. She wasn't going to stay here. She couldn't spend another day in bed, thinking about her life and what would happen now. Her phone buzzed.
b there in 10. Mia smiled. She knew she could count on Brad. No matter what, Mia knew Brad would be there for her. Mia pulled off her pjs, threw on some clothes that she had on the floor and grabbed her backpack.
Meet me down the street at the store, Mia typed back. She opened her bedroom door and practically bumped into her mother.
"You are going back to bed right now," her mother said, crossing her arms in front of her. Her eyes narrowed at her daughter. Mia knew that her mother was trying desperately to get control of the situation but, as usual, Mia would not give that control up.
"I have to go," Mia said and pushed past her. She hurried out of the house, before she could get into another fight with her mother or running into her stepfather, and walked quickly down the street. It was freezing outside and Mia wrapped her arms around herself. She had her puffy winter coat on. It's not my winter coat, Mia thought, correcting herself. She had "borrowed" it and she used to love wearing it. It felt like a permanent embrace. Right now it felt like it was suffocating her. Tears filled her eyes and Mia blinked quickly, willing them away. Get a grip, she told herself. She told herself to focus on her breathing until Brad came.
As she walked into the parking lot, she spotted Brad's car. She walked over and got into the front seat. She pulled her legs up and curled into a ball.
"Feet off the seat," Brad said, lighting a cigarette and unrolling the window. He shouldn't smoke around me, Mia thought, feeling the tears well up again. Mia didn't move her feet and rested her chin on her knees.
"Feet or I'm going to drive you straight to school," Brad mock threaten. A sob broke through and Mia tried to hide her face. The tears were coming hard and fast now and she was shaking. She couldn't stop the tears. Brad looked at Mia, his face concerned and shocked.
"I was just kidding," he said, sounding slightly confused. He tapped the cigarette and reached out for Mia and touched her shoulder. Mia cried harder. She thought she was going to suffocate. She looked up, tears running down her face. Brad flicked the cigarette out the window and turned to face her.
"Mi, what's going on?" he asked, his voice sounding alarmed. Mia took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm down. She looked at Brad, wondering what he would think. The tears started fresh again.
"Mi, you are scaring me," Brad said, his voice quiet.
"Brad," Mia whispered, taking another deep and steadying breath, "I'm pregnant." Brad was quiet for a moment then asked, "Does he know?" Mia shook her head.
"I've been avoiding him," Mia confessed. Brad nodded.
"He asked me what was going on with you," Brad said. He started to rub Mia's back, "Come on, let's get out of the parking lot. We'll just drive or whatever you need." Mia nodded and pulled on the seatbelt. She knew Brad would know what to do. She knew he would take care of her. He wouldn't push her to talk. He'd wait for her. Mia rested her head against the window. She knew Brad wouldn't push her to tell the father. Mia knew she had to. She loved him and she knew he felt the same. They had been together for a year and… and, she didn't know. She didn't know why she avoiding him. Mia closed her eyes. No, she didn't want to go through this in her head again. She had been doing this every day since she found out. She squeezed her eyes, trying not to cry again. Grady… I'm sorry.
Grady dropped his cigarette and crushed it with his boot. He had been watching the west side door for a while now. Mia always went through that door. It was the closest one to the student parking lot and she always got a ride from Brad. There was no way he would have missed her coming in. She couldn't be missed. Grady always thought she had the type of beauty that parted crowds but it would probably be argued that it was her attitude that did. She didn't take bull shit from anyway and most people avoided her. He glanced at his cell phone. It was five minutes before the bell rang and there was no message from her saying that she wasn't going to be at school. Then again, he hadn't seen her practically all week without explanation. She hadn't been returning his calls, IMs, texts or emails. The only reason why he knew she was still alive was because Brad told him so. Grady had asked him yesterday what was going on with Mia and Brad had shrugged saying that Mia had been the same as always with him. Of course she would, Grady thought, heading inside and towards Mia's locker on the off chance that he did miss her, If he was anyone but Brad, I would have sworn she was cheating on me. Brad and Mia were best friends, Grady knew that. One of the reasons why he got to know Mia was because of Brad. Grady and Brad hung out and only a few times Mia had joined them at first. His first impression of Mia was that she was a whiny wanna-be emo goth. He hadn't really liked her except noting that she looked damned hot. Grady had said that Brad who simply said that Mia was off limits to him as one of his fuck buddies. So what if Grady had a bit of a reputation for screwing around? If the girls were into it, who was he to stop them? It was more than just that to Brad, protecting Mia from his reputation, but those two used to date in grade nine. They only went out for a few months but then decided they were better off friends. When Grady had asked Mia if she still had feelings for Brad, she rolled her eyes and smacked him, saying that Brad was one of the few people that she could trust. Grady supposed if Mia had family she could rely on she would have likened Brad to a brother or something. Either way, Grady knew there was nothing going on between those two which lead to the question why was Mia ignoring him and why wasn't Brad telling him anything?
Grady went to Mia's locker and opened it up. She had given him the combination a long time ago. Her coat or her bag was there. She wasn't at school yet. He pulled out his cell phone and checked it again. Still no messages. On a whim, he decided to go check out Brad's locker. He walked down the hall, ignoring the students around him. They were probably laughing and gossiping about something stupid. He hated high school. His desire to get out of this town was the only reason why Grady didn't drop out. Without high school, Grady knew he would be stuck here forever. He opened up Brad's locker and saw the same thing as Mia's: nothing. He supposed that was a good note since if Brad wasn't here yet that meant Mia wasn't avoiding him so completely that she was now avoiding her locker. Unless she convinced Brad not to go to his locker either because she knew Grady would check both lockers. It wasn't like either of them cared about being in class on time. Grady sighed. He was tired of this shit and wondering what was going on with his girlfriend.
Grady headed towards the doors. He'd jump on his bike and stay outside her house all day and night if he had to. He'd find out what was going on with Mia today.